Hours earlier, Ukraine’s Charge d’Affaires in Russia Vasyl Pokotylo was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday over the ‘unlawful activities’ of a consul of the Ukrainian Consulate General in St. Petersburg.

‘The Russian side pointed out the inadmissibility of this kind of activity, which is incompatible with the status of a consular officer and detrimental to the security interests of the Russia Federation,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

Pokotylo was announced that Sosoniuk´s stay in Russia is undesirable and he was recommended to leave its borders within 72 hours, starting from April 19, 2021.

In Kiev, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Yenin stressed that this is a ‘provocation’ of Russia and assured that his country will respond to the arrest of Russian consul in Ukraine.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) published a video in which a witness claimed that Sosoniuk was interested in Russian databases, the license plates of FSB´s official vehicles and in criminal cases. ef/pll/mem/mml